Microsoft Buyouts 2026: 60,000 Jobs Cut Before Earnings
Microsoft is cutting a quarter of its workforce to help fund its AI buildout, turning Wednesday’s earnings into a test of the strategy.
Market Snapshot
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<p style="color: #C9A84C; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase; margin: 0 0 16px 0; padding-right: 90px; font-family: 'EB Garamond', Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.1;">Microsoft Buyouts 2026: 60,000 Jobs Cut Before Earnings</p>
<p style="color: #A8B8C8; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 400; margin: 0; line-height: 1.6; font-family: 'EB Garamond', Georgia, serif;">Microsoft is cutting a quarter of its workforce to help fund its AI buildout, turning Wednesday's earnings into a test of the strategy.</p>
</div>Market Snapshot
All figures are indicative opening levels as of this morning, October 27.
Stocks opened higher Tuesday, with the Dow around 52,361.58, up 0.28 percent, the S&P 500 around 7,676.77, up 0.70 percent, and the Nasdaq around 26,169.38, up 0.82 percent.
Gold eased to around $4,024.00, down 0.36 percent, and silver slipped to around $53.48, while oil held near $100.79, down 0.95 percent, as Middle East diplomacy offset lingering supply fears.
The VIX fell to around 17.88 as investors looked ahead to Wednesday’s Fed decision and a wave of Big Tech earnings.
Microsoft traded around $529.62, down 0.56 percent, as its buyout news collided with Wednesday’s earnings date.
Alphabet held around $318.20, up 0.44 percent, ahead of its own results Wednesday and continued scrutiny of its AI spending.
Coca-Cola traded around $93.00, up 0.31 percent, near a record high ahead of this morning’s earnings report.
Main Story
Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, to free up capital for its AI infrastructure buildout.
- Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees, about a quarter of its workforce, with staff in the US, Canada, India and the UK able to accept through early December ahead of a December 31 exit.
- The company frames the move as redirecting resources toward AI infrastructure and products, extending a cost discipline push after roughly 30 percent of eligible workers took an earlier voluntary retirement offer.
- The real test lands Wednesday, when Microsoft reports fiscal first quarter results and investors find out whether the savings show up fast enough to offset the AI capital spending it has already committed to.
Chart of the Day
Microsoft trades around $529.62 in early trading Tuesday, a step back from Monday’s close around $532.60, as investors weigh the buyout news against Wednesday’s earnings report.
The stock still sits above both its 50-day average around $529.54 and its 200-day average around $520.01, with momentum readings leaning positive.
Traders are watching whether Wednesday’s results send the stock through resistance or back toward its 200-day support.
Technical Trading
MSFT levels from Investing.com’s Tuesday technical summary.
- The 14-day RSI reads around 63.2, firmly in buy territory but not yet overbought.
- MACD sits around positive 0.46, confirming the bullish setup, with the stock above both its 50-day ($529.54) and 200-day ($520.01) moving averages.
- Classic pivot support sits around $530.67 with resistance around $533.13, while chart watchers flag a bigger triple-top ceiling near $551 that would need to clear for a fresh breakout.
Global News
- Saudi Arabia’s air defenses intercepted three Houthi ballistic missiles and four drones Tuesday, while Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan agreed to keep talking toward regional de-escalation.
- Trump signaled he may seek a denuclearization summit with Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi, though national security experts don’t expect a major arms-control breakthrough.
- Anthropic’s newly filed IPO prospectus revived the AI trade overnight, helping send South Korea’s KOSPI up more than 3 percent and lifting chip stocks across Asia.
- The Federal Reserve opened its two-day policy meeting Tuesday, with markets pricing just a 10 percent chance of a hike at Wednesday’s decision.
Texas News
The Dallas Fed’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey climbed to 13.4 in October from 9.8, with business optimism improving even as the state works through a sharp slowdown.
Texas employers cut nearly 19,000 jobs in September, prompting the Dallas Fed to slash its 2026 employment growth forecast to 0.9 percent from an earlier call of 1.9 percent.
Looking Ahead
Tuesday, October 27: The Fed’s two-day meeting continues alongside earnings from Coca-Cola, UPS, Visa and Boeing, an early read on how corporate America is absorbing costs heading into the holidays.
Wednesday, October 28: Microsoft and Alphabet report after the close, hours after the Fed’s rate decision lands, in what could be the most consequential 24 hours of this earnings season.
Thursday, October 29: Meta’s stock offering is expected to price, the next test of investor appetite for the AI infrastructure buildout after Microsoft and Alphabet’s results are in.
The Y’all Street Podcast
Evan talks with Wasif Latif, Co-Founder and CIO of Sarmaya Partners, about his “Return to Tangibles” thesis: markets shifting from tech and long-duration financial assets toward energy, metals, commodities, and infrastructure. They cover what’s changed since the 2008 financial crisis, and frame AI as much a physical infrastructure story (power, natural gas, copper, uranium) as a software one. Latif ties it back to how he’s positioning around that view through Sarmaya’s LENS ETF.
Prices from Yahoo Finance, CNBC and Fortune. Technical levels from Investing.com and FXStreet. News from Reuters, Al Jazeera and CNBC.
For informational purposes only. Not investment advice. Prices are indicative opening levels and may differ from your broker.
